This invention relates to computers, and more particularly to apparatus for producing an output signal magnitude directly proportional to any root of an input signal magnitude.
In the past, several common function generators have produced an output signal magnitude approximating a variable magnitude input signal to, for example, a constant power or root. One such function generator is a biased diode type function generator. Such function generators are piecewise continuous between immediately adjacent pairs of selected points, but the slope of the output signal magnitude versus input signal magnitude curve of these function generators, when graphed, changes abruptly from one constant value to another at each selected point. However, simply by inspection of any function of a variable having a constant exponent greater of less than unity, it will be appreciated that the slope of the function changes gradually and not abruptly. Hence, the biased diode and other point by point methods of simulating a function of a variable with a constant exponent have had large inherent errors. In the past, such errors have been reduced by increasing the number of points and thereby the number of slope changes. However, this procedure results in an extraordinarily large increase in the amount of circuitry required.